It no longer consisted of separate strands weaving together. Instead, the energies merged and exploded within us.
Anna cried out as it carried her effortlessly over the edge, the powerful waves coursing through her body. And the surge effortlessly took me with it, bolts of electricity traveling straight from my spine to empty into her.
Pulse after pulse of it. Through the link, I knew Matt and Talakai be riding along. And it be glorious. The chasm within me snapped shut, sealed forevermore.
They be part of me now. And I finally understood what Fate had been trying to tell me, all this time.
As Anna and I lay entangled amid the wildflowers, I welcomed them all home.
* * *
Since my return a week ago, I have ventured out every morning at dawn to stretch my legs on the academy’s track around the lake.
Cass and Eli now handled the student runs, leaving me to enjoy the awakening energies of the day on my own. I siphoned the surrounding life essences as I engaged in my favorite activity.
It be overcast with a drizzle so fine it be almost fog. It pearled on my skin and hair and ran off in long channels across my body.
By the time I pulled up near the beach, I knew my bondmates be up to something. Usually by now, I be swept up in Matt and Anna’s regular morning activity. When they remained silent, it aroused my suspicions.
I reached for them, but found only Talakai. A morning creature like myself, he’d braved the drizzle to soar overhead. He answered my push along the link.
Too bad you are getting wet. It’s beautiful up here.And he sent me a glimpse of the sunrise reflecting pink and gold off the clouds below him.
Being in the Dragon’s mind had been one of the most surprising bond revelations. Through his eyes, I witnessed not only the cold skepticism trained into him, but his wonder and awe at the world around us. It often be difficult to remember that he be an assassin. Until you faced him in fight or weapons class.
Where be Matt and Anna?I asked when I couldn’t reach them.
Sleeping, I expect.
But there be a note in his mindvoice...You don’t know?
He sent the Dragon equivalent of a mental shrug.They were sleeping when I left.
Be the Dragon evasive? Not his usual style. But when he didn’t add anything further, I headed for the building.
Anna, Matt, and Talakai shared a room in the student dorm, but my status as their teammate rather than full-time instructor had caused poor Amadeus a few conniptions. After all, I be a fully trained Bellati warrior, and not a student. When I’d stepped in this week to assist with Night Games, the headmaster seemed to conclude that I warranted the staff quarters he’d granted me.
Another quest along the link reassured me that Matt and Anna must still be asleep. Despite their protestations to the contrary, we did not sleep together. I’d made it pretty clear that while I accepted them as bondmates, and therefore nothing we did be ever truly private, I would not share the communal bed.
I had meant what I’d said—I did not share. We had since modified that statement to “I do not participate in orgies.” While my human side be a willing participant in the bond, I did not trust my beast with the other two men. Particularly at times when the human may not be in full control. I be under no illusions—it be part of this only because of Anna’s ability to dominate it.
And I be, indeed, a lethal weapon. It would only take a microsecond for tragedy to strike.
So Anna always came to me alone.
I could handle your beast.Talakai sounded confident of it. And he well might have reason to be.
Better not to risk it,I replied easily.This works.
He didn’t respond in words, but I sensed a hint of something from him that I couldn’t quite define. This mindspeaking thing had nuances that I had yet to master.
I nodded to the young recruits acting as door guards, noting that their stance still required work. I took the stairs to the fourth level, bypassing the few students already milling around the cafeteria entrance.
The staff quarters at this level be basically empty. Eventually, it would fill as the students graduated and became full-time Shade operatives. But as I pushed through the entrance, silence greeted me.
Silence, and the smell of grilling meat. My stomach growled. The only other residents on this level be Alex and Neil, and they be only here part-time. They must be fixing breakfast. My own fridge be currently empty. If I wanted to eat, I be going to have to visit the cafeteria.
I strode down the hall, my mind on food. And stopped dead outside my door.
